Looking directly down into Black Rock Gorge
Impossible to photograph effectively!
The second walk was longer and took us to a memorial high up on the hills, where we had fantastic views of Cromarty Firth and the hills and mountains all around us. A smashing afternoon's walk.
Today I met a family who have cyclists doing JOGLE. The Dad and son were cycling about 40 miles a day, with daughters and mum joining in sometimes. They hoped to finish in about 4 weeks but they were concerned about the weather as it's so nice and they had mainly brought wet weather gear! There's time yet, but good luck to them - an excellent family holiday!
From Bernie:
Today's walk 13.3 miles : Cumulative 1172.8 miles
Slightly frivolous day, probably brought about by the excitement of being so close to the finish!
Cromarty Firth & Bridge
Started by crossing the sweeping, elegant Cromarty Firth bridge - the first bit made a little trickier by roadworks & the fact that the angry traffic roaring up the A9 didn't seem to want me to share a carriageway; selfish, I think! Noted the first road-sign for John O'Groats, checked my mileage & realised I'm walking about 30 miles further than this but got a fair few of those miles out of the way with this afternoon's detours!
Black Rock Gorge had always been a possible alternative route into the hills of Easter Ross, it's just not quite as direct as it might be! There are smallish wind-farms scattered all over these hills & one is under construction here, though most of the work appears to only touch the edge of Evanton Woods & will, hopefully, leave the gorge unscathed.
Highlight of the Day: I promised outrageous monuments & today's is outrageous in more ways than one! The Fyrish monument stands on Fyrish Hill, high above Evanton, and, on countless occasions as I've driven along the Cromarty Firth I've thought that I must climb up & have a closer look.
Hector Munro had served as a general in India & seized the port of Negapatam for the British in 1781; he built this monument as a replica of the gates of the Madras city he had conquered. Bizarre enough.
On his return to Scotland, as the local landowner, he provided work (and pay) for the unemployed & starving by getting them to build his pillars.... for these were the years of the terrible Clearances which decimated the population of the Highlands (more on this later!). Benevolent enough.
However, it was also as the local landowner that Munro had introduced the sheep to the area which were causing the unemployment & making him a fortune! Outrageous.
200 years later, it's a fun monument to visit with superb views... but it's a sad little history lesson as well.
Fyrish Monument
Returned to Evanton village instead of continuing across the hills to Alness & that was the really frivolous bit - I now have an extra 3 miles of road-walking to add to tomorrow's already lengthy trek!
Doing well with seats at the moment - this one's in Evanton
Met a man from Kent who, on any other day, would have been the 'highlight'! He is the first foot-LeJogger I have encountered though, unlike me, he hasn't been able to walk it all in one go - because of other commitments he's been tackling it in 2-week chunks! Chatted to him on the road & again after I'd met up with the manager in Evanton. He doesn't have any diversions planned so not sure if I'll bump into him again.
Rather hazy view of the Cromarty Firth from Fyrish Hill
Beer of the Day: back to the bottle today for 'Ebulum', an elderberry black ale from the Alloa brewery. Dark, heavy, rich & 6.5%, you wouldn't want to drink pints of this - it was a bit like having a whisky at bedtime! Satisfying!
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